The crazed rantings of Bob on just about anything.Remember they are my opinions, you can borrow them, share them, reference them, even cross post and index them, but you can never take them away from me.

Buried In The News

The court ruled 2-1 in favor of the Federal Communications Commission, which says equipment using the new technologies must be able to accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA.

Under the law, the internet, VOIP providers, and other "non-private" network equipment must be able to be tapped by law enforcement officials. A school or company's internal network wouldn't be covered by this. However, the provider that hooks them to the internet would be.

The arguement against the ruling, that the 1994 act shouldn't be enforced against the 2006 internet, is IMHO crazy. Unfortunately, congress would have to change laws nearly daily to keep up with technology if we look at things that way.

The truth is, VOIP providers want to be treated as telephone services, so long as they don't have to pay the same taxes and users fees, or be subjected to the same laws as traditional telecoms. The same thing goes for cell service providers, they'd like to be treated different than 'wired' service providers. Neither wants to be required to allow 9-1-1 locating services, pay the users fees etc, but they want to be in the market for the users of traditional system who have to follow those rules.

The truth is though, being in the same market, targeting the same audience means they should be subject to the same rules on these issues. That includes CALEA and the Telecom Act of 1994.

For the supposed civil liberties defenders out there, please apply some common sense when you think about the issue.

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"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature who can never be free except made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." --John Stuart Mill